A breakthrough in the form of a wound dressing indicated for moist wound healing with built-in pain medication is now available on 20th November 2008 in Kenya distributed by iMED Healthcare Ltd.

A breakthrough in the form of a wound dressing indicated for moist wound healing with built-in pain medication is now available 20th November 2008 in Kenya. As the world’s first, the new type of wound dressing may in addition to wound healing also reduce wound pain (caused by tissue damage) for people with chronic wounds, by releasing ibuprofen directly into the wound when in contact with wound exudates. Painful wounds that will not heal such as leg ulcers and pressure sores are a common but overlooked problem. With many millions people in Africa affected during a lifetime, chronic wounds are almost twice as common as rheumatoid arthritis.

 The new dressing called Biatain - Ibu was developed by Danish medical device manufacturer Coloplast. Precisely engineered but ingeniously simple, it absorbs and evaporates away large quantities of wound fluid. Biatain – Ibu combines an absorbent wound dressing with a continuous local release of ibuprofen directly into the wound, thus bypassing common side effects of oral pain relieving drugs. A chronic wound is defined as a wound that does not heal within three months, but some people can have wounds that take years to heal. During this time the pain for

many sufferers is almost unbearable and can lead to insomnia, reduced physical activity, isolation and depression.The pain can be so excruciating that one can hardly concentrate on anything.“The traditional tablets that patients take for pain simply don’t help.

It seems that this particular product is able to apply the actual pain-relieving agent to the area of the wound. It gets to the source of where the pain is and switches it off in the wound itself, and this seems to be very beneficial.” The study was designed to investigate the pain relieving properties of Biatain – Ibu compared to Biatain (the plain dressing without ibuprofen). The study found that the moist wound healing and patient safety was not compromised when using Biatain – Ibu. In addition, Biatain – Ibu foam dressing provided significant better wound pain relief than the comparator dressing.With the new dressing, Coloplast continues its tradition for developing medical devices and services that contribute to a better quality of life for the users.

Biatain – Ibu is reimbursed by the Social Security and is available in three sizes.